Our "new" Tiger...
- Thread starter HMR
- Start date
HMR
Rendezvous Conspiracy
Good point and I agree. I think I'll take a trip to the harbor and wander the aisles of the local marine supply stores.
HMR
Rendezvous Conspiracy
Overland Expo...
I decided to take the Tiger out to Amado, AZ for the Overland Expo. I flew into San Diego on Wed. evening, jumped in the Tiger and hit the road around 8:30pm. The plan was to camp somewhere near Yuma, AZ then get to Amado sometime late Thurs. morning. I got a call from fellow Expo member Gear as I was leaving the airplane and he talked me into a last minute, late night caravan with him and our buddy 1Leg. Gear and 1Leg are great guys to travel/camp with so they just made my already good trip better. We stopped outside of Yuma around midnight and boondocked off the side of the highway on an empty stretch of desert. I slept like a rock until 5:30am when Gear banged on the side of the van to wake me up. I was ready to go approx. 30 seconds later.
At our first gas stop, we opted to get off the Interstate and take the "long way" to Amado. It added 2 hours to the drive and was well worth it as the scenery was beautiful on the little 2-lane highways:
Along the way, Gear and 1Leg spotted this gem behind a building in some tiny little town:
:drool:
Pit Stop:
Our Camp at OvEx:
I drove a little over 1,000 miles on this trip and can't think of anything that needs improvement as far as comfort and ride quality go. As expected, the Tiger ran perfectly. I got 12mpg on the worst tank of gas (70-75mph) and 15mpg on the best (60mph). Good times!
I decided to take the Tiger out to Amado, AZ for the Overland Expo. I flew into San Diego on Wed. evening, jumped in the Tiger and hit the road around 8:30pm. The plan was to camp somewhere near Yuma, AZ then get to Amado sometime late Thurs. morning. I got a call from fellow Expo member Gear as I was leaving the airplane and he talked me into a last minute, late night caravan with him and our buddy 1Leg. Gear and 1Leg are great guys to travel/camp with so they just made my already good trip better. We stopped outside of Yuma around midnight and boondocked off the side of the highway on an empty stretch of desert. I slept like a rock until 5:30am when Gear banged on the side of the van to wake me up. I was ready to go approx. 30 seconds later.
At our first gas stop, we opted to get off the Interstate and take the "long way" to Amado. It added 2 hours to the drive and was well worth it as the scenery was beautiful on the little 2-lane highways:
Along the way, Gear and 1Leg spotted this gem behind a building in some tiny little town:
:drool:
Pit Stop:
Our Camp at OvEx:
I drove a little over 1,000 miles on this trip and can't think of anything that needs improvement as far as comfort and ride quality go. As expected, the Tiger ran perfectly. I got 12mpg on the worst tank of gas (70-75mph) and 15mpg on the best (60mph). Good times!
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HMR
Rendezvous Conspiracy
Yikes!
HMR
Rendezvous Conspiracy
I thought they didn't make many of these things?
So earlier today I was sitting in my room at the Houston Marriott. I glanced out my window just in time to see a familiar shape pass by.
Later on I went to get my car and saw it, again, in the parking lot:
Hard to tell from the pic, but it appeared all of the LP items had been removed (furnace, hot water heater, etc.). The lack of a propane bottle underneath adds a ton of ground clearance. It looked like most of the original interior was torn out (no shower enclosure) and replaced with a bigger sleeping area. The diamond plate fit perfectly and the whole exterior was in excellent condition. Someone put a lot of work into this Tiger.
Strange... seems like I'm starting to see Tiger's everywhere (cue Twilight Zone theme).
So earlier today I was sitting in my room at the Houston Marriott. I glanced out my window just in time to see a familiar shape pass by.
Later on I went to get my car and saw it, again, in the parking lot:
Hard to tell from the pic, but it appeared all of the LP items had been removed (furnace, hot water heater, etc.). The lack of a propane bottle underneath adds a ton of ground clearance. It looked like most of the original interior was torn out (no shower enclosure) and replaced with a bigger sleeping area. The diamond plate fit perfectly and the whole exterior was in excellent condition. Someone put a lot of work into this Tiger.
Strange... seems like I'm starting to see Tiger's everywhere (cue Twilight Zone theme).
ihatemybike
Explorer
Just curious how you are calculating the mpg. Are you taking the larger tires into account? Your numbers might actually be a bit higher.
Tire Size Comparison
Ouch. With Grumpy's cylinder 2 misfire and a stuck open thermostat, the van still gets over 20 mpg on the mostly highway drive back and forth to work. Using hypermiling techniques that van has seen trips over 24 mpg. This is with both back seats in and the van acting as a rolling tool shed.
I highly suggest a ScanGaugeII. I run with mine hooked up at all times. I monitor RPMs, Current MPG, Current Trip Avg MPG, and alternate between the Gallons Per Hour and the Throttle Position Sensor. It's a bit of a game for me to make the Current Trip Avg MPG numbers go up.
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HMR
Rendezvous Conspiracy
I'm using GPS. The larger tires create a 5% discrepancy between the factory odometer and the GPS.
Ironduff
Observer
So earlier today I was sitting in my room at the Houston Marriott. I glanced out my window just in time to see a familiar shape pass by.
Later on I went to get my car and saw it, again, in the parking lot:
Hard to tell from the pic, but it appeared all of the LP items had been removed (furnace, hot water heater, etc.). The lack of a propane bottle underneath adds a ton of ground clearance. It looked like most of the original interior was torn out (no shower enclosure) and replaced with a bigger sleeping area. The diamond plate fit perfectly and the whole exterior was in excellent condition. Someone put a lot of work into this Tiger.
Strange... seems like I'm starting to see Tiger's everywhere (cue Twilight Zone theme).
Wow! Unique! Peculiar, but very nice, looking CX! Yes, a _lot_ of extra work went into it. I know a lot of folks don't use the shower in their smaller RV's. They're mostly always in CG's and prefer to use their facilities. Plus removing the waste tanks would improve departure angle. A fair number of RV'ers are anti-LP for various reasons.
As far as the number made, my '06 CX's serial number is less than 1100. I think (not certain) that that number series includes all GT's and XL's, as well. I know the factory in SC isn't a big place; not sure about the former CO location. When I bought mine, it looked like they were building 1-2 a week. They're doing more now under the new owner, I think. He's added at least one dealer (New England area), and brought out a taller version of the CX, the Bengal.
I live in a town where 2 I'states cross, and one of them runs right by the factory about 180 miles away. Other than factory visits, I've seen exactly two on the road in 4+ years... one CX and one XL. I've actually seen more Scotties (larger, but similar to the CX, out of business since late 90's).
Jim H.
HMR
Rendezvous Conspiracy
More trim work...
I had a hard time finding the correct rubber trim (aka "screw cover") that's supposed to go around both the refrigerator and aux battery access doors. The trim was missing when we purchased the Tiger. I was fortunate to grab the last 25' available from the only RV store in my area that carried it. There's a different type of trim that runs horizontally along both sides of the camper (thin black line below the brown stripes) that also needed to be replaced. I couldn't find the exact same stuff anywhere but noticed that the fridge/battery trim looked like it might work. It turned out to be a perfect fit and looks great. It's amazing what a difference these simple trim upgrades make.
Here's a before pic for reference:
The arrows show some of the recent upgrades:
The round-shaped areas towards the rear are the "shore power" extension cord cover and the "city water" hookup. The OEM white paint was chipping in those areas so I sanded them down and painted them black.
I had a hard time finding the correct rubber trim (aka "screw cover") that's supposed to go around both the refrigerator and aux battery access doors. The trim was missing when we purchased the Tiger. I was fortunate to grab the last 25' available from the only RV store in my area that carried it. There's a different type of trim that runs horizontally along both sides of the camper (thin black line below the brown stripes) that also needed to be replaced. I couldn't find the exact same stuff anywhere but noticed that the fridge/battery trim looked like it might work. It turned out to be a perfect fit and looks great. It's amazing what a difference these simple trim upgrades make.
Here's a before pic for reference:
The arrows show some of the recent upgrades:
The round-shaped areas towards the rear are the "shore power" extension cord cover and the "city water" hookup. The OEM white paint was chipping in those areas so I sanded them down and painted them black.
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HMR
Rendezvous Conspiracy
New Roof Vent...
Of the 3 roof vents on our Tiger, the one above the bunk was the only one that was 100% metal. It worked great for keeping the bunk area nice and dark but after years of exposure it was covered in rust (the other, plastic, vents are still in good shape). It wasn't causing any problems but the sight of the rust was bugging me every time I got up on the roof and we figured it was eventually going to start leaking if the rust got under the seal.
New vents should be very easy to replace. As usual with the Tiger, the cruddy screws they used at the factory made it take hours longer than necessary.
Original vent with lid removed:
There are 24 screws used to hold the original vent in place.
Only 2 of them came out with a screwdriver, 3 came out with vice grips and the other 19 had to be drilled out (ugh!).
New vs. Old:
The opening all cleaned up and old sealant removed:
The new vent installs in minutes. It takes 28 screws. The old and new holes don't line up which is a good thing as it allows all the new screws to have a tight grip. I used a layer of putty tape between the roof and vent to improve the seal. As always, we replaced the original screws with stainless steel:
Excess putty tape trimmed and a few layers of sealant slathered on the seams and screws:
Of the 3 roof vents on our Tiger, the one above the bunk was the only one that was 100% metal. It worked great for keeping the bunk area nice and dark but after years of exposure it was covered in rust (the other, plastic, vents are still in good shape). It wasn't causing any problems but the sight of the rust was bugging me every time I got up on the roof and we figured it was eventually going to start leaking if the rust got under the seal.
New vents should be very easy to replace. As usual with the Tiger, the cruddy screws they used at the factory made it take hours longer than necessary.
Original vent with lid removed:
There are 24 screws used to hold the original vent in place.
Only 2 of them came out with a screwdriver, 3 came out with vice grips and the other 19 had to be drilled out (ugh!).
New vs. Old:
The opening all cleaned up and old sealant removed:
The new vent installs in minutes. It takes 28 screws. The old and new holes don't line up which is a good thing as it allows all the new screws to have a tight grip. I used a layer of putty tape between the roof and vent to improve the seal. As always, we replaced the original screws with stainless steel:
Excess putty tape trimmed and a few layers of sealant slathered on the seams and screws:
Zaskoda
Observer
Here's a shot, again, of the stock and Provan seat mounts:
Here's the final version of my custom mount. Figuring out the correct offset and angle was the time consuming part:
I've done a strikingly similar mod to my econoline van using safari seats and a swivel I found at the junk yard:
I used all square tubing... it was a little tricky to get everything lined up nicely, but it finally came together.